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- 2 Sheets-Sheet I. M. BROGHU & L. LADRIERE.

(No Model.)

EXTENSION LADDER.

Patented Oct. 26, 1886.

WITNESSES:

. @ZLWW ATTORNEY (No Model.) 2 SheetsSheetr2.

BROOHU 8t L. LADRIERE.

EXTENSION LADDER. No. 351,622. Patented Oct. 26, 1886.

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N. PETERS. Phnlo-Lilhognphcr. Washington a c ient form than any now inuse.

llNi-TED STATES PATENT MICHAEL BROGHU AND Louis LADRIERE, or GRANDRAPIDS, MICE.

EXTENSION-LADDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 351,622, dated October26, 1886.

Application filed January 7, 1886. Serial No. 187,931. (No model.) i

To aZZ whom, it nutty concern:

oted to each other at their center, the upper Be it known that we,MIoHAEL BRocnUand 1 one rigidly attached to the frame A and re- LoUIsLADRIER both citizens of the United States, and residents of the'city ofGrand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michi gan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in EXtension-Latlders, ofwhich the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to extensioirladders designed to be used inscaling high walls, and particularly designed for use at fires; and itsobject is to constructladders for that purpose in a cheaper, moreefficient, and more conven- This object is accomplished by the mechanismillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sideelevation of our device closed and mounted upon a truck, and Fig. 2 is aperspective view of portions of the two upper sections of the ladderwhen opened. Fig. 3 represents the winch with the ropes wound upon it inopposite directions.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings, A is the frame upon which the ladder is mounted.

B is the ladder, composed, in the example shown, of five sections.

O G C are side pulleys near the bottoms of the sides of the second,third, and fourth sections, respectively; and G O O O are similar sidepulleys near the tops of the'first, second, third, and fourth sections,respectively.

D is a pulley attached to the inside of the top of the elevated part Aof the frame A.

G is a roller attached to the upper end. of the sidebf the top section.

l? is a rope or cable attached at one end to the winch indicated by E inFig. 1, at the other end to a point in the first section of the ladder,as shown, and passing up and around the pulley D.

All the parts so. far described are duplicated upon the other side ofthe ladder.

F is a winch operated by a crank in the usual manner,and held inposition by a ratchet and pawl,asshownbythedottedlines. Thiswinchextends across the frame, and upon the' other end. is a similar crank,ratchet, and pawl.

L is a hinge or other suitable device for enabling theladder to beturned upon the frameA..

- y and y are two circles of iron or steel, pivvolving upon the lowerone, which is firmly attached to the truck.

N is a rope, or for heavy ladders preferably a wire cable, which at itslower end is fastened to the drum of the winch F, passes through a holein the cleat, the end of which is shown by b, which hole serves as aguide in winding the cable upon the drum, and then passes over thepulleys C O G C O O G, and is attached to the bottom of the top sect-ionof the ladder. Upon the other side is a similar rope or cable; or theone may pass through the top ladder, and down on the other side, asshown in Fig. 2. These cables are attached to the drum near its ends,while at its center is attached so as to wind in the opposite directiona rope, M, for retracting the ladders.-

This rope M passes through ahole in the center of the cleat- 1), servingas a guide to keep it wound separately from N N.

On the outside of the side rails of each ladder-section except thelowest are cut grooves, as shown by O in Fig. 2, while togthe uppersurface of each side rail except those of the top section are attachediiat metallic plates H H, which project inwardly from the side rails andslide in the grooves O O.

The operation of our invention is as follows: The ladder being closed inthe position shown in Fig. 1, it is drawn 011 the truck to the placewhere it is desired to be used. By operating the winch E the entireladder, still closed, is raised to any desirable angle, and held by theratchet and pawl shown, or by any suitable mechanism.

The entire frame A, and the ladder with it. is then turned upon thecircles 31 y to any position that may be necessary to enable the ladderto rest squarely against the building or wall to be scaled. By thenwinding the elevating-rope N upon the barrel of the winch F the secondand remaining sections are raised the entire length of the firstsection, the

plates H H sliding in the grooves O 0 until the end of the groove isreached, as shown in Fig. 2. At the same time the retracting-rope l\Lisunwound just as much as N is wound, and is always taut, so that theladder is always under .perfect control. As the winding of the rope Ncontinues, the subsequentsections will be raised in the same manner asfar, as desired.

The upper end of the ladder, which rests against the wall, is providedwith the rollers G, which permit the ladder to be raised withoutfriction against the wall. The ladder is retracted by reversing themotion of the drum F, and is held at any point desired by the pawl andratchet shown or by an y suitablestop.

Ve are aware that extension-ladders are not new, and that they have beenused in various forms; but we are not aware of any device operating assimply and efl'ectively as ours. By our arrangement of the ropes,pulleys, and winches the entire width of the ladder is preserved foruse, and the ladder is at all times under perfect control. In thedrawings we have shown a ladder having five sec tions, and we think thisnumber the most practicable for general use; but the number may beincreased or diminished, if desired.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim to have invented, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an extension-ladder, the combination of the several sections ofthe ladder with each other and with the rope or cable N, for elevatingthe ladder, and the rope M, for retracting the same, both ropes wound inopposite directions upon and operated by the winch F, so that turningthe winch in one way will elevate and in the other way will retract theladder, substantially as described.

2. In an extension-ladder, the combination of the ladder, the winch F,the cables M and X, and the cleat b, said cleat having near its endsholes through which the cables N pass, and near its center a hole forthe rope M, said holes serving as guides to keep the cables N and Mwound separately and upon the proper portions of the winch F,substantially as described.

HICHAEL BRQGHU. LOUIS LADRIERE.

\Vitnesses:

ARTHUR C. DENISON, EDWARD TAGGART.

